Don’t get me
wrong; I like dogs, but I was concerned that the cuteness of a handful of
puppies was all that Pick of the Litter might provide as appeal. Oh boy, was I
wrong. Following the journey of five puppies on the road to becoming guide dogs
for the blind, the film provides an empathetic and educational glimpse into the
two-year process. And there are cute puppies.

I’ve always been
a sucker for a well-made revenge film. This may be why South Korean cinema has
such appeal, with these narratives creatively showing up in a variety of genres.
While there are also a consistent stream of American revenge movies, they haven’t
really been innovative or original since the 1970s. These days we mostly get
cheap remakes of those brutal classics (such as Death Wish and I Spit on Your
Grave), and those that aren’t just imitate the expected story points in the
most generic of fashion. Peppermint is
exactly this type of film, and might as well have just been titled Female Death Wish.